Continue reading "Latest political party state funding budgets released" »
Continue reading "Latest political party state funding budgets released" »
04 November 2009 in political finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Parliamentary Service, political finance, state funding
Continue reading "Bill English, the Auditor General’s report, and corruption management" »
29 October 2009 in National Party, political finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Bill English, corruption, National Party, political finance
Continue reading "MSD social report 2009: Inequality increased in Labour's last year in office" »
27 October 2009 in inequality, Labour Party | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: inequality, Ministry of Social Development, MSD, poverty, Social Report
Continue reading "Sue Bradford: The Green Party has lost its radical edge and differentiation" »
19 October 2009 in Green Party | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "A bad marriage leads to divorce – the splintering of the Greens" »
16 October 2009 in Alliance party, Green Party, NZ Left | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Green Party, Metiria Turei, Russel Norman, Sue Bradford, the Alliance
Continue reading "Fixing political finance with a civil society approach" »
09 October 2009 in electoral law, political finance | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: campaign finance, electoral finance, Electoral Finance Act, Jane Clifton, political finance
08 October 2009 in international left | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Red Shirts, Thai politics, Thai Rak Thai, Thailand
Continue reading "Conclusions about the 2008 election campaign" »
Continue reading "The professionalisation of party campaigning" »
06 October 2009 in 2008 election, Books, NZ Political Parties, party membership, political finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Angelo Panebianco, Anthony Downs, electoral-professional party, Kirchheimer, party professionalisation, political campaigning, political marketing
The Maori Party had three related objectives for the 2008 campaign: to win all seven Maori electorates, gain greater recognition as the ‘Treaty partner’ in Parliament, and have a role in the next government. Thus the party sought to project itself as the independent kingmaker of the election, hoping to take up the same strategic position that New Zealand First had held as an important player in past coalition negotiations, able to leverage disproportionate policy gains from the major parties. In order to gain this position, the Maori Party had to carefully construct an image of political neutrality between Labour and National. These are the issues that I focus on in the section on the Maori Party within my chapter entitled ‘Party Strategy and the 2008 Election’ which is part of the recently published book Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig). This blog post is the 12th of a series of explorations of the chapters from the new book, and it constitutes the original draft section about the Maori Party that I wrote for my chapter. Subsequently this draft was substantially reworked, edited, and condensed for the final book, so please see the published book for the final and ‘authoritative’ version. [Read more below]
28 September 2009 in 2008 election, Books, elections, Maori Party | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: 2008 general election, Maori Party, Tariana Turia
24 September 2009 in 2008 election, Act party, Books | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: 2008 general election, Act, Act Party, political campaigning, Rodney Hide, Roger Douglas
21 September 2009 in events, NZ Left | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
17 September 2009 in 2008 election, electoral law, political finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: EFA, Electoral Finance Act, electoral law, political finance
In 2008 the Green Party was set to become the third largest party in Parliament. To get there the party attempted to take a qualitatively different approach to the past – adopting a highly professsionalised and market-oriented strategy. Taking the ‘Americanisation’ of politics towards its logical conclusion the Green also embraced a very celebrity-focused method of campaigning, while still relying on some traditional minor party media stunts. The party also attempted to break out of its ‘left ghetto’ but with mixed success. These are some of the issues that I focus on in the section on the Green Party within my chapter entitled ‘Party Strategy and the 2008 Election’ which is part of the recently published book Informing Voters? Politics, Media and the New Zealand Election 2008 (edited by Chris Rudd, Janine Hayward and Geoff Craig). This blog post is the ninth of a series of explorations of the chapters from the new book, and it constitutes the original draft section about the Greens that I wrote for my chapter. Subsequently this draft was substantially reworked, edited, and condensed for the final book, so please see the published book for the final and ‘authoritative’ version. [Read more below]
Continue reading "Review of “Speaking Truth to Power” – where are all the public intellectuals?" »
04 September 2009 in democratic discourse, NZ Left | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Brian Easton, Bruce Jesson, intellectuals, Jane Kelsey, Laurence Simmons, Michael King, New Zealand left, New Zealand leftwing, Nicky Hager, public intellectuals, Roger Horrocks, Sandra Coney, Speaking Truth to Power
Continue reading "Leaders debates and interviews in the 2008 NZ election" »
18 August 2009 in NZ Political Parties, the left | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Political advertising in the 2008 NZ election" »
In my opinion there is an ethical sickness in our Parliament when even senior MPs no longer see themselves as the people's servants in public duty, but as political elites who are entitled to the maximum remuneration and perks they can give themselves. But the rort isn't just restricted to individual benefits. All the parties now collectively fleece the taxpayer to fund their political election machines. For example, three of the four main candidates in the recent Mt Albert byelection were already MPs and receiving their salaries and expenses right through the campaign. In addition, the campaign staff were either MPs as well or Parliamentary staff with most of their costs paid. Even the Prime Minister authorised a Cabinet minister on full pay to manage his candidate's campaign for eight weeks. The salary bill for just that was a good part of $40,000. This week, a lone MP was convicted in court for corruption. But our whole political system is fraudulent. Party organisations as we used to know them no longer exist in a meaningful way. List MPs are effectively party organisers and parties are covertly funded by taxpayers through the back door. Every party is guilty of it. This week the senior leaders of every Parliamentary party should have been in the defendant's dock with Field.
09 August 2009 in political finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Matt McCarten, MP expenses, Philip Field, political corruption, political finance
Mr Field returned expenditure of $14,996, accounting for his spending on posters, pamphlets, hoardings and signwriting. He did not declare the costs of advertising two campaign fundraising socials and a campaign rally, or the costs of the food, drink and entertainment which were offered at these events. He made no allowance for the running costs of his campaign van, or for its purchase price or its depreciation. On the other side of the ledger, he returned a donation of $5000 from the Otara Labour Party Trust, but did not disclose another sum of $15,000 given to him by the same trust. These matters were referred to the Electoral Office, which referred them to Mr Field. After considering his reply, the Electoral Office decided that it would not refer Mr Field’s return to the police, because it was not satisfied that any offence against the Electoral Act had been committed. The act broadly has it that campaign spending need be returned if it relates exclusively to the campaign for the return of the candidate (spending which relates to the return of two or more candidates is to be apportioned). Mr Field told the Electoral Office that the advertising left out of his return did not relate exclusively to his campaign. "The fund-raising social," he declared, "was held to raise funds which were used for a variety of purposes including for the Labour Party as a whole. Proceeds also went towards funding the Mangere Labour Party organisation, including its local committee activities, meetings and levies payable to the party’s head office." According to the Electoral Office, the undeclared advertising for the campaign rally promoted not only Mr Field’s candidacy but also the launch of Labour’s Pacific Island policy, noting that in respect of the campaign social, the member had stated that this "was also not a function exclusively related to the campaign for my return as the candidate for Mangere". The costs of the vehicle, Mr Field advised, were not declared because it was purchased while he was not only candidate for Mangere but MP for Otara, and needed the van for his electoral work as well as his election campaign (David Lange, ‘Law Made in an Age When MPs Did Not Behave like Tax Laywers’, Press, p.11, 29 July 1997).
05 August 2009 in electoral law, political finance | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: David Lange, Electoral Commission, Philip Field, political finance, Taito Philip Field
Continue reading "A critique of the disclosure of MP expenses" »
03 August 2009 in political finance | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: MP expenses, Parliament, Parliamentary Service, political finance
29 July 2009 in 2008 election, Books, elections, ePolitics | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: epolitics, internet campaigning, New Zealand politics, online politics
Continue reading "The Maori Party and newspaper coverage in the 2008 NZ election" »
Continue reading "Newspaper coverage of the 2008 NZ election" »
16 July 2009 in Books, Labour Party | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Denis Welch, Helen Clark, Labour Government, Labour Party, political biography
The Labour Party continues to exploit its taxpayer funded parliamentary resources for the purpose of blatant party political advertising. With leader Phil Goff doing so poorly in opinion polls, the party is dipping its hand into the public purse to try and improve his profile. The image on the right is the front section of a leaflet that is being dropped into letterboxes all over the country. It promotes "Brand Goff", which is incidentally rather bland - there's not a lot in the leaflet that couldn't also appear in a National "Brand Key" leaflet. His advertising slogan is: "Hard work. Inspiration. And a fierce belief in New Zealand." I'm sure that just about any politician could sign up to such a slogan. But added to the selling of Brand Goff is of course, "Brand Labour", along with its well proportioned party logo on the front. It's hard to believe that anyone could look at such an expensive leaflet and not think that it's basic party electioneering instead of carrying out any sort of parliamentary function. Of course, the leaflet does include a section professing to ask for public feedback, but this too is just a ruse to make it seem more parliamentary while also harvesting elector data for future political direct marketing. [See the full Labour Party leaflet below]
Continue reading "Labour's latest taxpayer-funded advertising" »
15 July 2009 in Labour Party, political communications, political finance | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Television coverage of the 2008 NZ election" »
Continue reading "Unite's campaign for a living wage – the need for a radical programme" »
07 July 2009 in NZ Left, unions | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: CTU, John Moore, Matt McCarten, union movement, Unite Union
Continue reading "A critique of the Greens’ political finance disclosure" »
17 June 2009 in Green Party, political finance | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: corruption, Green Party, Greens, MP expenses, Parliamentary Service, political finance, Russel Norman
14 June 2009 in Music, NZ Left, NZ society | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 26: Conclusions (and bibliography)" »
11 June 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Jim Anderton, Matt McCarten, New Zealand politics, NewLabour Party, NLP
10 June 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Jim Anderton, Matt McCarten, NewLabour Party, NLP
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 24: Resistance to party change" »
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 23: The Alliance oligarchy" »
Social democratic parties have traditionally occupied an ambiguous position in relation to the economic system. While maintaining various degrees of opposition to the consequences of capitalism, they agree to work within the framework of capitalism and bourgeois democratic institutions. Such ‘State socialists imply that although class conflict, economic crisis, exploitation and poverty are consequences of capitalism, they can be eliminated (through state action) while capital remains’ (Allen et al., 1978: p.24). Operating within this framework, such parties continually adjust to the constraints of that environment. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 22: The Alliance’s orientation to the economic system" »
05 June 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Jim Anderton, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy
After the formation of the Alliance, the NewLabour Party’s (NLP) speed in policy moderation increased substantially. This was largely a result of two processes: first, the pressure applied by the other Alliance partners for the NLP to drop its own more radical policies, and second, the NLP’s desire to keep the coalition together, which inevitably meant compromising on its own policies. Furthermore, involvement in the Alliance now gave the Anderton group in the NLP more power and influence through uniting with their more conservative allies in the other Alliance parties against the NLP leftwing. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 21: A shift to the right in economic policy" »
04 June 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Jim Anderton, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy
During the early formation period of the Alliance, public opinion polls gave the as-yet-unformed coalition percentage ratings in the mid-30s. These results were largely illusionary, as some sections of the public which were probably outside of the Alliance’s potential support-base simply flirted with the novelty of the new coalition. Yet it still indicated that the Alliance was likely to be a substantial political force in at least the short-term future. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 20: The success of the Alliance" »
03 June 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The NewLabour Parry (NLP) was born out of a rejection of political expediency. The people who formed the party perceived the old Labour Party to have given up its social democratic principles and traditions and implemented policies for which it had no mandate. Therefore the early NLP party organisation placed a strong emphasis on the fact that it would not be tempted by the methods of expediency and that it would strongly guard its original principles. But Anderton and the NLP constituted a peculiar contradiction – they claimed to be principled; they rejected expediency, yet they also claimed to be pragmatic and attempted to reject an image of idealism and of being ideologues. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 19: Principle and pragmatism" »
The Green Party contest for its next female co-leader is essentially an ideological decision between two candidates from the left and right factions of the party. Sue Bradford is undoubtedly the left option in the contest – which is partly why she won't be elected. As pointing out in the blog post on Meteria Turei, Sue Bradford is incredibly unlikely to win the contest for the Green Party female co-leader – mostly due to the fact that she is - for better or worse - very strongly associated with the so-called anti-smacking bill, an elitist style of process for pushing forward this social change, and has been typecast as a radical ‘extremist’. In fact, the decision of who to select to replace Jeanette Fitzsimons will effectively decide the ideological trajectory of the party over the foreseeable future. Bradford is the choice of those that are uncomfortable with the party's very deliberate shift towards the centre of the political spectrum under Fitzsimons and Russel Norman. This blog post takes a look at Sue Bradford's past, suggests that the left option in the Greens will lose and the party will hasten its shift not only towards greater independence from the Labour Party, but also towards the right. It also tries to unpack the history and politics of Bradford, attempting to get beyond some of the simplicities and myths projected about this unique but also rather ordinary politician [Read more below]
Continue reading "Sue Bradford - the Greens' futile left option" »
29 May 2009 in Green Party, NZ Left | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
The establishment of the Alliance, was a major turning point for many of those who remained in the radical left faction of the NLP. While some of the radical left capitulated to the swell of enthusiasm for an Alliance, others were concerned with the opportunism which they perceived in the NLP’s involvement in the Alliance. After all, membership of the Alliance depended less on what a party stood for, than what it stood against. Hence all five Alliance parties stood for distinctly different politics when they joined, but claimed a commonality in what they opposed — neoliberal economic policy. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 18: Political differences within the Alliance" »
29 May 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Bruce Jesson, Greens, Jim Anderton, Matt McCarten, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy, Winston Peters
In light of the huge scandal in the UK over MP allowances, it’s worth looking at how politicians in New Zealand are misusing their parliamentary entitlements. While much of the British scandal has focused on the pecuniary gain of MPs, in this country it’s more likely that MPs and their political parties misuse their parliamentary allowances more for political gain – essentially converting parliamentary funds into a form of ‘backdoor state funding of political parties’. All the parties in Parliament have access to millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded resources and budgets that they use for party political electioneering. Of course this is especially the case when there’s an actual election going on – as there is currently with the Mt Albert by-election. Hence all the political parties in Parliament will be siphoning off taxpayer resources to Auckland at the moment. Therefore it has to be asked, are all the non-Auckland MPs that are currently flooding into the Mt Albert electorate, doing so via taxpayer funding? Is the Green candidate, and Wellington-based MP, Russel Norman really paying his own way to Auckland and finding his own accommodation during his campaigning? [Read more below]
Continue reading "MP expenses and corruption in Mt Albert?" »
27 May 2009 in political finance | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: MP expenses, Mt Albert, political finance, Russel Norman, state funding
The formation of the Alliance in 1991 was a watershed in the NewLabour Party’s (NLP) development, especially in that all four of the party’s Alliance partners were considerably to the right of the NLP on most economic issues, and largely unsympathetic to the NLP’s strong ideological emphasis on working class interests. Thus the NLP’s semi-merger with the Greens, Democrats, Liberals and Mana Motuhake contributed to the NLP leadership’s rightward movement. Politically, this project led to a watering-down of the policy and principles that the NLP has worked for. Organisationally it led to the NLP, especially its branches, being subsumed into the larger Alliance structure. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 17: Formation of the Alliance" »
27 May 2009 in Alliance party, Green Party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Green Party, Greens, Jim Anderton, Matt McCarten, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy, The Alliance
Following the NewLabour Party’s (NLP) 1990 general election campaign, some type of post-election evaluation period was made inevitable by the rushed nature of the pre-election preparations and the less than hoped for election result. The party finally had real time to take stock and for some to take a broader view of the direction of the party as an organisation and a political force. The post-election period was therefore a time for members to consider some fundamentals of the party: structure, organisation, political and activist orientation, and the decision-making process. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 16: Post-election internal reactions" »
The general election of 1990 was the first real test for the NewLabour Party (NLP). The existence of elections every three years serves to intensify the selection and refining of a party’s particular policies and political positions. The election acts to test these policies as well as the party’s organisation structure including its ability to mobilise activists for the event. Elections also reassert the importance of the party’s leadership, as they shift the emphasis to the idea of particular members of the party potentially becoming representatives in the national legislature. Furthermore, because elections test the success of the organisation, they automatically lead to some sort of internal party evaluation of the many decisions that were made prior to the election. This means that elections are often substantial turning points in the nature of political parties. This was certainly the case with the NLP. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 15: The 1990 general election" »
25 May 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: 1990 general election, Alliance, Jim Anderton, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy
Parliamentary participation tends to require parties of the working class to seek electoral support outside a narrow definition of what might be seen as the working class. And, as can be seen in the evolution of the NewLabour Party (NLP), the compromises needed to gain this wide support had the effect of weakening the party’s original ideology. As the NLP moved beyond an attempt to appeal primarily to working people, its stated ideology and policies have shifted correspondingly. [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 14: Interclass support and social democracy" »
25 May 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Alliance, Jim Anderton, Matt McCarten, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy
Initially the NewLabour Party (NLP) membership voted against a purely parliamentary focus for the party. The 1989 Constitution stated that the objectives of the NLP ‘may include education, activity and organisation at all levels of New Zealand Society, not restricted to political electioneering’ (NLP, 1989: p.2). The NLP thus decided on a strategy that sought to put emphasis both on winning seats in Parliament and mobilising community fight-backs against the attacks on working people. As National Councillor Laila Harre contended, ‘It would be opportunist to expect people to elect you to Parliament if you’re not doing work in the community’ (quoted in CPNZ, 1991a: p.17). [Read more below]
Continue reading "[NewLabour Party history] 13: The NLP’s orientation to Parliament" »
22 May 2009 in Alliance party, NZ Left, social democracy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: abortion, Alliance, Jim Anderton, Laila Harre, NewLabour Party, NLP, social democracy
